Veterans air legislative concerns

State funding cuts for veterans programs topped the list of concerns during a legislative roundtable Friday in Watertown at the Codington County American Legion Post 17.

During the two-hour meeting with 10 state legislators, representatives of several veterans organizations were vocal about the funding lost to supplement salaries of county veterans service officers (VSOs) and grant funding eliminated for the hospital transportation network.

Before the budget cuts two years ago, the state contributed $1 for every $4 in county funds toward VSO salaries, according to Denny Brenden of Watertown, The American Legion’s state adjutant and legislative lobbyist. But the entire $167,000 counties previously received was lost as part of the 10 percent budget reduction of the South Dakota Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, he said.

“The county VSOs are often the first point of contact a vet makes after returning home from combat,” Brenden said, “to find out about veterans benefits and disability pensions.”

The VSOs also provide important support for veterans, given the incidence of suicide among those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.

Currently, there are 57 VSOs, some working as little as 4 hours per week providing services in 66 counties throughout the state.

Veterans also lost $21,000 per year toward the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) transportation network after the state funding cuts.

According to Ken Laughlin, executive director of the DAV out of Sioux Falls, the network operates 28 vans in South Dakota to take veterans from their homes to the VA hospital and back for appointments, at no cost to them. Patients do not have to be DAV members and drivers are volunteers.

The transportation network started in 1984, and today 189 such vans operate in states throughout the country.

“We knew when the state was cost-cutting that we would have to take our 10 percent like everyone else, but the whole thing was whacked,” Laughlin said. “We’re willing to do our fair share, but we would like to see at least part of that grant funding reinstated.”

Although veterans organizations in the state do have several registered lobbyists, the legislators at the meeting emphasized that veterans need to mobilize to make their voices heard in Pierre during the legislative session.

Rep. Spencer Hawley, who introduced a failed bill last year to reinstate the VSO funding and plans to try again this year, urged veterans to come to Pierre en masse during each step of the legislative process to support the measure.

The legislators also suggested that veterans groups get backing from their county commissioners and that individual veterans send letters to legislators noting they are voters in their districts.

“Revenue collections are growing,” Rep. Jim Peterson said. “There is no reason we can’t come up with a couple hundred thousand dollars for our veterans.”

Other initiatives veterans proposed at the roundtable meeting included:

• Excluding disability compensation from the income calculation when veterans apply for state programs;

• Allowing write-in ballots for state and local elections during military absentee voting;

• Easing professional licensing processes for veterans who have equivalent military experience and training as well as for their spouses who may hold a license from another state; and

“We understand education and Medicare will be important this session,” said moderator Warren Aas of Watertown, American Legion department service officer and president of the South Dakota Veterans Council. “We’re just asking legislators to listen to veterans.”

The roundtable’s panel included representatives from The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, The Disabled Veterans of America, Vietnam Veterans of America, Military Order of the Purple Heart and the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

The Watertown meeting was one of three such briefings, in addition to sessions Dec. 1 in Rapid City and Dec. 8 in Sioux Falls.

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